From: CBC News
Gallant government is sending a ‘mixed message’ by hiking tobacco tax and cracking down on contraband smokes
By Jacques Poitras, CBC News
The New Brunswick government has created a $950,000 a year, nine-officer enforcement unit to crack down on black market cigarettes, at the same time as raising taxes on tobacco. (RCMP)
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Mike Hammoud, the president of the Atlantic Convenience Stores Association, says the group analyzes the chemical make-up of discarded butts to measure how many cigarettes come from illegal sources.
In New Brunswick, the figure is about 22 per cent, Hammoud said.
